“Everybody in New York thinks the Knicks are Playboy bunnies, and I have been telling them for years the Knicks are a rabbit,” he said. “They’re closer to a Playboy bunny this year but for the last few years these guys are like, ‘We have a really good team!’ And I say, ‘You really think that?’ And I say, ‘No, they don’t.’ But this is the best team they’ve had in a while.”

A tortured analogy for sure, but the sentiment is still appreciated.

Obviously, Barkley’s point is largely right, there’s been an awful lot of premature excitement about the Knicks over the past few seasons, but even the most ardent Knicks skeptics among us have to be coming around to the idea this year’s team is for real.